CHARLOTTE – Results of a study of
more than 6,000 African-American students from the most academically
challenged campuses in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools suggest they
need learning help as early as possible.

By third grade, fewer than half of African-American students from these
schools, both girls and boys, score above proficiency levels on state
end-of-grade tests for mathematics and reading. By eighth grade, more
than three-quarters of those who were behind in third grade were not
proficient in Algebra I and English I, courses CMS students must pass
to graduate.

Fewer than 10 percent reached proficiency in college preparatory
courses such as Biology and Chemistry. And of 786 students who repeated
ninth grade at least once, 78 percent were below reading proficiency in
the third grade.

“Our goal was to find when we should start intervention services for
students in these challenged schools,” said Dr. Jeffery Shears, who
performed the study. “Results show that should be as early as possible,
by kindergarten, if not before.”
Shears is an associate professor in the Department of Social Work at
the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a researcher with The
University of North Carolina at Charlotte Institute for Social Capital,
Inc. Dr. Sharon Portwood, executive director of the Institute for
Social Capital and professor of Public Health Sciences, is a member of
The Charlotte Post Foundation board. Dr. Portwood also was a member of
the research team, along with Dr. Lyndon Abrams, associate professor of
Counseling.

At its annual Post Best banquet in 2007, The Charlotte Post Foundation
announced a commitment to focusing on systematic problems that impede
educational progress for African-American students. Gerald Johnson,
publisher of The Charlotte Post newspaper and head of the Post
Foundation, pledged the Foundation would “become actively involved in
the solution process to problems plaguing a generation of
African-American children.”

Johnson said he agrees with Shears that the results of this study
mirror what has been found in other urban areas. The results for CMS,
he said, will help The Charlotte Post Foundation decide where to invest
resources aimed at improving the academic performance of
African-American students in Charlotte.

“We are indebted to Jeff Shears because he has devoted the better part
of a year to determine that intervention at the earliest ages is what
must happen with African-American students at academically challenged
schools,” Johnson said.

“With this in mind, The Charlotte Post Foundation will begin
determining which groups dedicated to improving classroom performance
should get help from us,” he said.

More information will come from the Foundation soon, Johnson added,
some as early as September 20 when The Charlotte Post honors civil
rights attorney Julius Chambers with its “Luminary – Lifetime
Achievement” award at a banquet in the Westin Hotel. The banquet raises
money for the Foundation, which provides college scholarships for
deserving African-American students in CMS.

Shears examined CMS data for African-American students attending
schools CMS identified as enrolling a high number of children who need
individual attention and extra support. The students were enrolled at
any time from the 2000-2001 school year to the 2006-2007 year.

Results suggest that just 39 percent of third-grade girls on these
campuses scored as proficient in mathematics on end-of-grade tests
sanctioned by the state of North Carolina. Only 44 percent were
proficient in reading. By fifth grade, proficiency in math was 59
percent and 53 percent in reading. By eighth grade, it was 64 percent
proficiency in math and 71 percent in reading.

For third grade boys, the proficiency numbers were 36 percent in math
and 34 percent in reading for third grade, 56 percent in math and 52
percent in reading by fifth grade and 59 percent for math and 59
percent in reading for eighth grade.

The earliest that CMS has such numbers is third grade, Shears explained.

Shears also determined that, of students who scored at the lowest
levels of reading in third grade, 76 percent were not proficient in
Algebra I and 79 percent were not proficient in English I, courses
required for CMS graduation.

Numbers are grimmer for college preparatory courses, the study showed.
When students were at the lowest levels of reading in the third grade,
93 percent lacked proficiency in Biology. Of 1,610 poor performing
third graders, only 409 ever enrolled in Chemistry and 92 percent were
not proficient in the course.

Students can graduate from CMS without reaching proficiency on state
tests, Shears pointed out. But for the 786 African-American students
who repeated the ninth grade at least once, 78 percent scored below
proficiency levels for math and reading in the third grade.

Students who repeat the ninth grade are prime candidates to drop out,
Shears said. For dropouts, crime and other at-risk activity increases
dramatically, he added.